Cleaning device



March 23, 194,3.l

R. A. KELLY ET AL 2,314,711

CLEANINGDEVGE V Filed May 22, 1 940 zzz-5.' a. o i

I 2 II I l V 'ff im ltwlhllumnu lIlh lllh lhluflilqunf 1mm um ,un fun 1Him, f? 2, $27- o #14 wf 3] Z7 //30 l Z? Patented Mar. 23, 1943 UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE CLEANING DEVICE Raymond A. Kelly and Winfield F.Raddon, Salt Lake City, Utah Application May 22, 1940, Serial No.336,608

6 Claims. (Cl. 15-104) The principal objects of the invention are toprovid-e:

First-A device that is simple, eflicient and inexpensive.

Second- A device that not only loosens dust and dirt, but which collectsat least the greater part of the same for convenient disposal.

Third-A device which improves'a textile surface by flufiing andconditioning the fibers thereof.

In general, the device comprises a plurality of depending riliiessuitably supported and spaced apart from one another, the individualriilles being fluted or corrugated across the length thereof,

thus defining a series of passages throu-gh which dust or dirt particlesare carried upwardly and deposited in appropriately recessed cells,

In using the device, it is' placed in contact with, and given abrushlike motion over, the surface of a fabric to be cleaned, the loweredges o1' the riifles serving to vigorously knead and otherwisemanipulate the nap o1' thread of the abric. This serves to loosen thedust or dirt particles and to bring them to the surface,whereupon theparticlesl a portion of Fig. 4, but showing rilles of anotherlconstruction;

Fig. 6, a fragmentary cross-section showing rililes of still anotherconstruction; and

Fig. 7, a section taken on the line 'l-l in Fig. 6.

Referring to the drawing, the numeral 20 indicates a back or housinginto which is tted an easily removable rife structure 2|. The particularconiiguration of both the housing and the riiile 'structure and thematerial of which these are made, may be varied within wide limits. Forexample, the present showing contemplates these structures as being madeof any of the numerous plastic compounds suitable for the purpose, Ifdesired, the design may be adapted to the use of various othermaterials, such as wood or metal.

The back or housing may have any desired conguration suited to anindefinite number and variety of uses. In the present example, one endis pointed, as indicated at 24 in Figs. 1 and 3, so that the device canbe nosed into restricted spaces -such as the re-entrant angular cornersof upholstered furniture, a good example being chairs or davenports ofthe overstuffed type.

The back or housing 20 may have a depending wall 25 following itscontour, and the wall be internally grooved as indicated at 26, toreceive a removable riille Structure.

The riille structure may consist of a plurality of individual rifiles 21upwardly fluted or corrugated as clearly indicated in Fig. 3. The riiesmay extend longitudinally of the device and may v advantageously besubstantially parallel to one another. In the present instance, theindividual riles are supposed to be integral with a frame 28 and with anend piece 29, the frame being fitted to slide, drawerlike, in the`groove 26. 'I'he frame and rifes may be suitably stiifened, forexample, by means of the cross connections 30.

It is desirable that the rile structure should normally beheld in theassembled form in a manner to resist any tendency to becomedisassociated in normal use. This can be accomplished in various ways,for example, by providing suicient frictional resistance between theframe 28 and the contacting surfaces of the groove 25.

In a preferred construction of the device, the individual riies 2l, incross-section, are advantageously of hollow V-shape as clearly shown inFig. 4, these riiles being disposed in transversely spaced relation toone another. The spaces 3l are at least partially defined by theextremities of the V-legs and therefore extend longitudinally of thestructure. A chamber 32 is advantageously provided above the extremitiesof the rl-legs and below the inner surface 34 of the back, for a purposepresently to be described.

-For convenience in holding the device with the iin-gers of one hand,grooves 35 may be provided along the top edges of the housing as iscustomary on ordinary brushes.

Inusing the device, the vertices of the V-rillles, which may be slightlyrounded as indicated in Fig. 4, are brought into contact with thesurface to be cleaned, and the entire structure moved back and forth inbrushlike strokes across the surface. The most effective cleaningstrokes are transverse because not only are the constituents of a labricvigorously agitated, but at the same time, there 'is a pronouncedtendency to create a partial vacuum back of each moving riie, and thistendency produces a suction and a resultant inrush of Yair which liftsthe dust or dirt particles up through the space between any two of theri'les and' through the ports 3i into the chamber 32, from where theparticles drop into the V-shaped recesses 36 of the riles.

The carrying capacity of the dirt-laden air currents is increased by aVenturi effect exerted because of the upwardly converging passagesbetween consecutive riffles. The uting of the rilile sides forms spaced,upwardly directed conduits and `divides the up-rushing air into separatestreams which further enhance the dirt-carrying capacity of the airstreams.

Strokes in the direction of the arrow 3l, Fig. 4, have a tendency tocreate the vacuum immediately in back and on the far side of theriiiles, thereby tending to cause the induced air-currents lto followapproximately the upwardly directed arrows. Strokes whose direction iscounter` to the arrow 37, tend to induce corresponding air-currents onthe opposite side of the rililes. Thus, as the device is briskly movedback and forth, opposing air currents are continually meeting `anneutralizing one another in the chamber 32, which causes the dirtparticles to drop as aforesaid into the recesses or cells Et of therifles.

The alternate, dotted position Za, of the end piece 29, Fig. 3,indicates the operation of pulling out the riiile structure 2l for thepurpose of emptying the accumulated dirt.

Advantageously, the depending wall 25 and end wall 29 may have the loweredge thereof, at a level sufficiently high above the lower level of theriilie tips, as indicated for example, at 38 in Fig. 4, to cause theriille tips to sink into a fabric.

In Fig. 5, the riiiles 39 show a V-shaped exterior conguration but aresolid instead of being hollow as are those in Fig. 4. In 4both theseexamples, however, the converging spaces AG in the case of Fig. 4, andthe converging spaces 5! in the case of Fig. 5, are of substantiallyinverted V- shaped definition, thus maintaining the stated Venturieffect, in operation. The efcien'cy of the present device is attributedlargely to the maximum compacting of the air currents as they nowthrough the conduits formed by the iiutes which converge in Fig. 4.

In 5, the sides of the V-riiiies 3% are designed to be substantiallyplane, as an alternate construction. In this case the beneficial actionof the flute .conduits Imay not be obtained, but a considerablecompacting action is still exerted upon the air Streams which finallyemerge through the ports 42 and are projected into the chamber 43.

rEhe ports 3i Ain Figs. 3 and 4, and the ports 42 in Fig. 5, virtuallyform nozzles which extend the major linear dimensions of the respectiveriiTles. In some cases, the V-shaped riiiles of Fig. 5 may be lusedwithout the chamber 3, thereby bringing `about a somewhat differentoperative action from that previously described.

In Figs. 6 and 7 are shown depending rifiies 45 which are substantiallyuniform in thickness from top to bottom, but at the same time are liutedacross their length. In this case, the spaces AS between successiverifles do not afford the benefits of convergence, but they do have theadvantages that are derived from the luted ieature.

Having fully described our invention, what we claim is:

l. A cleaning device, including in combination, a plurality of dependingriilles spaced apart longitudinally one from another, the said riiilesbeing provided with flutes having peaks and valleys eX- tendingtransversely of the said riies, the distance from p-eak to peak andvalley to valley being equal approximately to the distance from riiileto rife, and means disposed to support the rifiles in the said spacedrelation.

2. A cleaning device, including in combination, a plurality of dependingriflies having a V-shaped cross-section, the said riles being spacedapart, one from another longitudinally, so as to form inverted,substantially V-shaped spaces between consecutive riiiles, a pluralityof flutes having peaks and valleys disposed in the faces of the V-legsand extending transversely of the longitudinal dimension thereof, thedistance from peak to. peak and valley to valley being approximatelyequal to the distance from vertex to vertex of the V-legs, and meansdisposed to support the rifes in the said spaced relation.

3. A cleaning device, including in combination, a plurality of dependingriiiies having a V -shaped cross-section and a longitudinal dimension,the said riiiies being spaced apart laterally one from another, alongthe longitudinal linear dimension thereof so as to at least ypartiallydefine ports between the adjacent V-leg extremities of consecutiveriflies, flutes formed in the V-legs, said flutes having peaks andvalley disposed transversely of the V-legs, a supporting structuredisposed to hold the riliies in the said spaced relation, and achambered structure above, and in communication with the said ports.

4. A cleaning device, including in combination, a plurality of dependingriiiies extending along a longitudinal dimension and having a recessed,V- shaped cross-section, the said riflies being spaced apart laterallyone from another along the major linear dimension thereof so as to atleast :partially dene ports between the adjacent V-leg extremities ofconsecutive riflies, each of the longitudinal faces of the legs of the Vhaving utes, the peaks and valleys of which are disposed transversely ofthe said longitudinal dimension, supports for the riiiles, and achambered structure above and in communication with the said ports andwith the recesses of the said V-shaped riiiles.

5. A Cleaning device, including in combination, a plurality of hollow,depending riliies each provided with a ridge and wings springing awayfrom the ridge to form substantially a V-shaped `crosssection, the saidriflies being spaced apart laterally one from another along the majorlinear dimenson while a riiiie wing is iluted transversely of the ridgeof the rile; and a supporting structure disposed to hold the saidrifiles operatively in the said spaced relation.

6. A lcleaning device, including in combination, a housing having aback, a curtain wall depending from the back and at least partially-coextensive with the outline thereof, a frame separably fitted into thehousing, and a plurality of riiies depending from the said frame, thesaid rifiies being spaced apart laterally one from another so as to atleast partially define longitudinal ports between successive riiiles,the said riflles having their upper edges spaced apart from the saidback for the purpose of dening, at least partially, a chamber betweenthe said back and the said upper edges, and the said riflles havingsides which are iluted so as to constitute peaks and `valleystransversely of the said longitudinal ports, thereby defining, at leastpartially, air conduits leading into the space between the upper edgesof the riifles and the said back.

RAYMOND A. KELLY. WINFIELD F. RADEON.

